Live COVID-19 updates: Expert says China's recombinant protein vaccine to aid global fight against COVID-19

Source: Xinhua| 2021-03-07 23:33:46|Editor: huaxia

BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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BEIJING -- China's homegrown recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine, recently approved for use in Uzbekistan, is expected to be another "powerful weapon" in fighting the global pandemic, a senior Chinese CDC official has said.

The vaccine has a relatively simple production process, a high output and is easy to store and transport due to its relatively low storage requirements, said Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the country's top political advisory body.

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NAIROBI -- COVID-19 is exacerbating inequities associated with gender in several key spheres of life and development, Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa said in a statement issued in Nairobi ahead of International Women's Day to be marked on March 8.

WHO said that African women bore the brunt of income losses, social marginalization, and health risks that escalated at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the continent. Moeti pointed out that the pandemic's aftershocks had a disproportionate impact on women and girls in the continent amid the absence of a robust safety net to minimize their vulnerabilities.

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LONDON -- About 140,000 Londoners have got long COVID-19 symptoms after contracting the disease amid warning of healthcare "gaps" that could leave them struggling to get support, the Evening Standard newspaper has reported.

It came in a letter from the London Assembly to Mayor Sadiq Khan seeking assurances that the British capital's health system has the capacity to cope with the long-term consequences of the pandemic, said the newspaper.

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KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia reported 1,683 new COVID-19 infections, the health ministry said on Sunday, bringing the national total to 313,460.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that 10 of the new cases are imported and 1,673 are local transmissions. Enditem

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